American Products' Quality Trumpeted

On New Year's Day, with an economic rebound nowhere in sight, William J. Lynott began doing his bit to boost the American economy.

The 63-year-old Montgomery County management consultant mailed out 2,000 free copies of the Buy America Newsletter, a new quarterly publication aimed at restoring confidence in American-made products.

Lynott, who founded the non-profit newsletter and put up $3,000 to get it off the ground, believes that American-made products have gotten a bum rap. In a largely one-man campaign, he's out to turn the tide of disillusionment toward products made by American workers and companies.

"When I was a youngster, `Made in the U.S.A.' was a badge of quality respected the world over," he said. "We've let other countries beat us at our own game, but now it's time to hunker down and start restoring America to its No.1 position."

Buy American campaigns are, of course, nothing new.

The United Auto Workers, the United Steelworkers of America and the International Ladies Garment Workers Union all have ongoing efforts at pushing American-made products. So have the industries that employ their members.

But the recession, with its lingering impact on American workers and their employers, has focused renewed interest on the link between American jobs and American-made products.

As of November, about 8.5 million Americans were out of work -- up from 7.7 million last January. With Christmas sales lean and leading companies like General Motors and IBM anticipating major layoffs in the coming months, most observers see little chance of an economic rebound anytime soon. President Bush has described the economy as sluggish, at best.

"I believe the recession is calling attention to the problem," Lynott said. "People who normally might not think about it are becoming aware of the link between buying American-made products and jobs."

Lynott's philosophy is simple -- American businesses and American workers would be better off if American consumers bought more American-made goods.

But unlike some efforts in the past, he's not asking consumers to buy American goods out of charity. Or patriotism. Or distain for countries we fought in World War II.

Lynott believes that many American-made products are as good as, if not better than, the imports. It's just that over the last two decades many Americans have come to see imported goods as being superior to domestic products.

"The average American has come to believe that if it's made in this country, it's no good," he said. "It's outrageous."

Lynott contends that much of the nation's $100 billion annual trade deficit is due to U.S. trade regulations that favor imports, and barriers to American exports by foreign governments like Japan and China.

He also attributes the loss of some 300,000 manufacturing jobs in the last decade -- and perhaps 500,000 more in the next -- to foreign competition.

But Lynott says American corporations, which often put short-term profit over long-term growth, must also bear some of the responsibility for the American swing to buying imports.

Dick Marsh, a Horsham businessman who helped Lynott organize the newsletter, traces the decline of confidence in American-made products to problems with the dollar and short-sightedness of some American manufacturers.

The American automobile industry, for example, lost a generation of consumers when it failed to produce products that met the needs of young people in the 1960s and 1970s, Marsh indicated.

"A lot of young people in the family-formation stage needed transportation that was affordable and of good quality," said Marsh, president of Drexelbrook International Inc. "But when they looked for it, they found very little of it produced in America."

So, Marsh said, they bought imports -- Toyotas, Datsuns, Volkswagens and Volvos -- and have been buying them ever since.

Both Marsh and Lynott believe, however, that things have changed in the last decade. If American consumers look around, they contend, they'll find American-made products that are just as good as the imports.

"The problem," said Lynott, "is one of perception."

The Buy America Newsletter lists American-made products that rank among the best in the world.

Ford's Taurus, Chevy's Corvette and Cadillac's Seville rank among the best in their fields, he contends. Arrow shirts, French-owned but American-made, rank with the best. Infinity speakers, McIntosh stereo amplifiers and Motorola cellular phones are all high-quality products, Lynott contends.

Martin Guitar, a Lehigh Valley company, is also listed.

"These outstanding musical instruments are the choice of professional artists around the globe," Lynott writes in his newsletter.

Martin Guitar, founded in 1833, is in Nazareth. The company is one of the oldest family-owned manufacturing operations in the United States. Martin guitars have been the choice of artists like Elvis Presley, Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash.